Science Fictions

Epsiode 99: Power posing

31 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

For a while in the early-to-mid 2010s, the most prominent psychology research in the world was on power posing. Harvard’s Amy Cuddy did a TED talk t...

Paid-only episode 28: Tourette's syndrome

24 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.comHave you seen the award-winning film I Swear, about a Sco...

Episode 98: Dark oxygen

17 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 2024, researchers claimed to find something mysterious at the bottom of the ocean. It was “dark oxygen”—oxygen produced where there’s no ch...

Episode 97: The 2D:4D digit ratio

10 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The last few episodes have been pretty heavy. So here’s… well, here’s the 2D:4D ratio. Does the difference in length between your index finger a...

Paid-only episode 27: Antidepressants

24 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.comAnd now… following last week’s episode on ECT, here’...

Episode 96: Electroconvulsive therapy

17 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Open up some scientific papers, and you’ll hear electroconvulsive therapy described as the most effective treatment for depression (especially very ...

Episode 95: Critical thinking

10 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

This episode is dedicated to Justin Eldridge.We like to think that, in often hamfisted ways, we’re applying critical thinking on this show. But what...

Episode 94: Medical marijuana

03 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Here’s another episode that revists a topic we’ve covered before. A while back, we did an episode on the downsides of cannabis (for example, the r...

Paid-only episode 26: Microplastics redux

20 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.comIt’s rare that we return to a topic, but it’s also ni...

Episode 93: Many analysts

13 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Here’s a cheery one for our first episode of the year. Guess what happens when you give several sets of scientists the same dataset and ask them to ...

A Christmas 2025 compendium

30 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We’ve covered a lot of bad science stories over the year. Here are a few more. But in the optimistic spirit of the “holiday season”, the last on...

Episode 92: Oliver Sacks

16 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

STOP PRESS: a beloved 20th Century populariser of psychology who wrote massively successful books has been shown to be full of crap. Actually… don’...

Paid-only episode 25: The menopause and hormone replacement therapy

02 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.comDoes the evidence support the use of hormone replacement ...

Unpaywalled: Jonathan Haidt vs. social media

26 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Hello everyone! We weren’t able to record a podcast this week, because 1) Stuart was busy and 2) it’s Tom’s birthday. So by way of apology we’...

Episode 91: Entangled Life and the wood wide web

18 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Everyone has read Entangled Life, the wonderfully-written book about fungi that took the world by storm about 5 years ago. Among many other things, it...

Episode 90: Cognitive dissonance

11 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It has happened again. A new paper, based on a tranche of unsealed historical documents, casts serious doubt on a piece of social psychology research ...

Paid-only episode 24: Creatine

04 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.comCreatine is the supplement of the moment, but both of us ...

Episode 89: Halloween special on reincarnation

28 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Around these parts, we have a tradition to do a paranormal episode at Halloween. We’ve done psychic powers, ghosts, and now… reincarnation. What a...

Episode 88: Wellbeing

21 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Maybe it’s the most important thing any scientist can study: what makes people happy? The trouble is, despite the importance, a lot of the science o...

Episode 87: Does Tylenol cause autism?

14 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

You requested; we delivered. Lots of Science Fictions listeners have asked us to take a look into Donald Trump and RFK, Jr.’s recent claims about Ty...

Paid-only episode 23: Suicide contagion

07 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.comWarning: As you can tell from the title, this podcast cov...

Episode 86: Food and climate

02 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How can both of the following be true? (1) The world has record crop harvests this year; (2) climate change is ruining crop harvests and threatening f...

Episode 85: Insectageddon

24 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What is that? What is that!? What is it!? Augh! No! Not the bees! NOT THE BEES! AAAAAUGGGHHHHH MY EYES! MY EYES! AAAGGHHHH!!!!This episode is about be...

Episode 84: Brain training

16 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

5—6—3—4—3—1—7—2In the first episode under our new podcast name (it’s now the Science Fictions podcast!), we ask whatever happened to a...

Episode 83: Dark matter and dark energy

09 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Where is most of the universe? And why don't we know yet? Yes—we’re talking about dark matter and dark energy, the mysterious stuff that’s predi...

Episode 82: Paper mills

02 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In our last standard episode, we talked about retraction—removing papers from the scientific literature. Well, it turns out there’s an awful lot o...

Unpaywalled: Diversity training

20 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We’re very sorry about the disrupted service over this summer! It’s been hectic with work and a house move and various things. To tide you over, h...

Episode 81: Retraction

05 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

RETRACTED // In this episode of The Studies Show, Tom and Stuart discuss retraction, the process of removing articles from the scientific record. How ...

Episode 80: Mindfulness meditation

29 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Pay attention. Focus on your breathing. Live in the moment. Accept yourself. Do you have a self? Focus on that self. And so on. This is, of course, th...

Episode 79: Cancer rates

22 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Are cancer rates going up or down? It seems like depending on where you look, you’ll find different answers to the question. What’s going on here ...

Episode 78: Worm wars and mouth bacteria

15 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Seconds out! Round one! Ding ding! And other boxing terms. We’ve found a topic on which Tom and Stuart actually disagree. Kind of. In this episode o...

Paid-only Episode 21: Psychological sex differences

08 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.comInspired by a new Nature paper on how the “maths gap”...

Episode 77: Anti-ageing, part 1

24 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Whether it’s people giving themselves goat blood transfusions in an effort to maintain their youth, or yet another influencer telling you to buy XYZ...

Episode 76: The four-day week

17 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Would you like to do 80% of your current job but for 100% of the pay? Well, of course you would. But would it be good for the economy? It’s been sug...

Episode 75: Broken windows theory

10 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We all hate “urban decay”—graffiti, litter, boarded-up buildings. But does urban decay cause crime? That’s the premise of the “broken window...

Un-paywalled: Bicycle helmets

04 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Hello everyone! Thanks to Tom’s holiday and Stuart’s job we weren’t able to record this week, so we’ve put out a classic paid episode to tide ...

Episode 74: Neurogenesis

28 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Can adults still grow new neurons in their brains? You’d think we might know the answer to the question of adult “neurogenesis” after more than ...

Episode 73: Borderline Personality Disorder

20 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Do you know anyone who has extremely intense relationships—one minute totally in love with someone; the next, flying into a rage and calling them th...

Paid-only Episode 20: The Studies Show LIVE with Jesse Singal

13 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.comDid you miss our live show last week? Good news if you ha...

Episode 72: Parenting (Part 1)

06 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Studies Show LIVE (with special guest Jesse Singal) is this week! Friday 9 May, Conway Hall, London, 8pm. Get your tickets AT THIS LINK or at bit....

Episode 71: The autism epidemic

29 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Studies Show LIVE (with special guest Jesse Singal) is next Friday, 9th of May, at Conway Hall in London. Get your tickets right HERE! Or go to bi...

Paid-only Episode 19: Circumcision

22 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.comSome scientific controversies are quite surprising (why w...

Episode 70: Bird flu

15 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Don’t forget THE STUDIES SHOW LIVE—on 9 May in London! You can buy tickets at this link, or by going to bit.ly/tss_live.What’s going to be the n...

Episode 69: Conspiracy theories

08 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

While you here do snoring lie, Open-eyed conspiracy His time doth take.If of life you keep a care, Shake off slumber, and beware: Awake, awake!…or s...

Episode 68: Cannabis

01 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Studies Show LIVE! Get your tickets for our live show in London on Friday 9 May at this link.Blaze it up! It’s time for an episode on cannabis. ...

Invitation to The Studies Show LIVE

31 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Studies Show. Live. In London. With Jesse Singal. Talking about controversial science. Friday 9 May 2025. What more need we say? Well actually, we...

Paid-only Episode 18: Abortion

25 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.comAs if the basic “pro-life vs. pro-choice” issue wasn’...

Episode 67: Seed oils

11 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. thinks that seed oils—like sunflower or soybean oil—are causing terrible damage to people’s health. And now he’s the US...

Episode 66: Superforecasting

04 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Whether it’s the 1903 New York Times article that claimed a flying machine was ten million years away, or the record executive who (allegedly) told ...

Episode 65: Havana Syndrome and mass hysteria

25 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Beginning in 2016, diplomats at the US Embassy in Havana started reporting strange concussion-like symptoms, even though they hadn’t taken a blow to...

Paid-only Episode 17: The lab leak hypothesis

18 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.comIt’s been five years since the start of the COVID pande...

Episode 64: IQ

11 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Every so often there’s a controversy related to IQ. The latest was caused by [checks notes] the new Vice President of the US attacking the IQ of a p...

Episode 63: Philosophy of science

04 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It had to happen eventually: this week The Studies Show is all about philosophy. As we look at science in general, how do we decide what those studies...

Episode 62: Violent videogames

28 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Before the panic over social media—but after the panic over “video nasties”—was the panic over violent videogames. Was Pac-Man causing little ...

Paid-only Episode 16: Recycling

21 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.comIs recycling worthwhile? Is sending your rubbish to landf...

Episode 61: Conflict of interest

06 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We want scientists to be paragons of objectivity. At the very least, we want them to tell us who’s paying their bills. But it turns out that in some...

Un-paywalled: Youth gender medicine & the Cass Review

31 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This week, as a gift for New Year’s Eve, we’re opening up a previously-paywalled episode so that everyone can listen. It’s our episode from Apri...

Episode 60: Best and worst science of 2024

24 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this final episode of 2024, Tom and Stuart talk about the most exciting scientific breakthroughs of the year… but temper it with some of the wors...

Episode 59: The apocalypse

17 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this “fun”, festive episode of The Studies Show, Tom and Stuart discuss two ways—one man-made, one natural—that our species might be wiped ...

Paid-only Episode 15: Sex and sport

10 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.comRather unexpectedly, the idea of separate sports for male...

Episode 58: Psychopathy

03 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Patrick Bateman. Hannibal Lecter. Ted Bundy. The guy who used to live downstairs from me. Psychopaths, every one. Except defining psychopathy, let alo...

Episode 57: Collider bias

26 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Among patients hospitalized for COVID, smokers had better outcomes. Among people with cardiovascular disease, those with obesity live longer. Among NB...

Episode 56: Water fluoridation and dentistry

19 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., just a big crank? Well, yes. But is he nevertheless correct in his specific claims about the harms of water fluoridation? I...

Paid-only Episode 14: Adult ADHD

12 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.comYou might’ve noticed it: a lot of celebrities have rece...

Episode 55: Government science funding

05 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In a desperate attempt to be relevant given the US Election, Tom and Stuart dedicate this episode of The Studies Show to talking about government inve...

Episode 54: Halloween special on psychic mediums

29 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

WoooOOOOOoooOOOOOoooo, it’s that time of year again! It’s Halloween, so it’s time for The Studies Show hosts to face their fears, and read the r...

Episode 53: The Stanford Prison Experiment

22 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Philip Zimbardo, the psychologist who’s best known for running the Stanford Prison Experiment in 1971, died last week. That’s a good excuse to dis...

Paid-only Episode 13: Surrogacy

15 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.comIt’s a constant source of online controversy: surrogacy...

Episode 52: Very old people and "Blue Zones"

08 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What’s the secret of living to 100? Well, it might be living in a “Blue Zone”: one of the handful of places around the world where there are app...

Episode 51: Antimicrobial resistance

01 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

There are an awful lot of things to worry about in the world. Are “superbugs” among them? That is, how worried should we be that bacteria will dev...

Episode 50: Toxoplasma

24 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Been feeling a little strange lately? A bit impulsive, maybe? Feeling a sudden urge to get a pet cat? Sorry to say it, but maybe you’re infected wit...

Paid-only Episode 12: Jonathan Haidt vs. social media

17 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A while back, The Studies Show covered the question of whether smartphones and social media cause mental health problems. Amazingly, that podcast didn...

Episode 49: Scientific publishing

10 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It’s in a peer-reviewed paper, so it must be true. Right? Alas, you can only really hold this belief if you don’t know about the peer-review syste...

Episode 48: Alcohol

03 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Okay, it’s time to finally answer the question: is drinking booze good or bad? Is there really a “J-curve”, such that it’s bad to drink zero a...

Episode 47: The 25 year old brain

27 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Everyone knows your brain hasn’t finished maturing until you’re 25. That’s so well-known, in fact, that some countries (like Scotland) have buil...

Paid-only Episode 11: Sex education

20 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.comDid your schoolteacher also do the thing with the banana ...

Episode 46: The marshmallow test

13 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It’s one of the best-known findings of psychology research: kids who can delay gratification by not eating a marshmallow will grow up healther, wise...

First anniversary special

06 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We’ve now been making this podcast for a year(!). We thought we’d mark the occasion with a grossly self-indulgent look back through our favourite ...

Episode 45: Air pollution

30 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Remember when they were coming to take your gas stove away? Every so often a study about the effects of air pollution on health goes viral, and we’r...

Paid-only Episode 10: Misinformation, debunked

23 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.comWe all agree that misinformation is bad. So why do we cri...

Episode 44: Asteroids

16 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Last week’s episode covered a man-made existential risk to humanity—nuclear war. But what about natural risks? Could there, right now, be a vast a...

Episode 43: Nuclear winter

09 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The UK has a new Prime Minister, and one of his first acts will have been to write letters to the captains of our nuclear missile submarines, telling ...

Episode 42: Election special

02 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This week it’s the UK General Election, and lots of other countries either have elections coming soon or have recently voted. Lots of pollsters and ...

Paid-only Episode 9: Viagra

25 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.comThere’s one thing we know Viagra does very well. But wh...

Episode 41: Criminal justice and forensic science

18 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The criminal justice system and science are both broadly looking for the same thing - the truth. But in many cases the two don’t mix well. Whether i...

Episode 40: Addiction

11 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

To be addicted to something, you’ve got to… er, actually, what does it mean to be “addicted” to something? We all agree you can be addicted to...

Episode 39: Peanut allergy

04 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Should you avoid giving your child peanuts to ensure they don’t develop an allergy? If you’d asked medical authorities this question in the late 9...

Episode 38: Lead and crime

28 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Many Western countries, most notably the US, had a major decline in their crime rate in the 1990s. About 20 years earlier, the US had banned the use o...

Paid-only Episode 8: The science of Johann Hari

21 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.comJohann Hari is a journalist with an interesting past who ...

Episode 37: Lead and IQ

14 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Petrol, pipes, paint: they made a whole generation duller. That’s if you believe the research on the effects of lead on IQ. By interfering with neur...

Episode 36: Vitamin D

07 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Preventing cancer. Curing depression. Single-handedly ending the COVID-19 pandemic. Oh, and something to do with your bones. Is there anything Vitamin...

Episode 35: The loneliness epidemic

30 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We can all agree that being lonely is bad. But apparently, science shows it’s really, really bad. Indeed, being lonely is so dangerous to your healt...

Paid-only Episode 7: Youth gender medicine & the Cass Review

23 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.comThe evidence for puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones ...

Episode 34: Does depression exist?

16 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Several previous episodes of The Studies Show have covered depression and treatments for it, but none have really considered what depression is. It’...

Episode 33: Probability (and Tom's new book)

09 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Everything is Predictable: How Bayes' Remarkable Theorem Explains the World. That’s the new book—out on April 25 in the UK and May 7 in the US—b...

Episode 32: Microplastics

02 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Microplastics are everywhere: there are teeny-tiny plastic particles in your drinking water, your food, your air - and perhaps even in your internal o...

Studies Show Short 1: Emotional Intelligence

29 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As an extra way of thanking our paid subscribers, we’re going to post some shorter episodes in addition to the usual weekly hour-long ones.This firs...

Paid-only Episode 6: Bicycle helmets

26 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.comMost people think it’s obvious that you should wear a h...

Episode 31: The trouble with meta-analysis

19 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We all love to cite meta-analyses. They’re the review studies where scientists take every single piece of research ever published on a particular qu...

Episode 30: The origin of life

12 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Don’t worry, it’s nothing important this week - only the origin of all life on planet Earth. No biggie. Sure, life evolved by natural selection, b...